Oral care compositions are used for a wide variety of purposes, including for enhancing personal health, hygiene, and appearance, as well as for preventing or treating a variety of diseases and other conditions in humans and in animals.
The formulation of such compositions presents a number of challenges. They must be pharmaceutically and/or cosmetically acceptable for their intended use. Compositions that contain therapeutic active materials preferably deliver the active at effective levels, avoiding undue chemical degradation. Similarly, compositions containing cosmetically functional materials must deliver the material to the oral cavity at effective levels under the conditions that they are typically used by the consumer.
Moreover, the aesthetic appeal of all such compositions is important, and can have significant effects on consumer acceptance and usage. Aesthetic effects have been acknowledged to play an important role in consumer acceptance of many products. Although such products have met with consumer approval, the art seeks to further improve the aesthetic effects as well as the cosmetic and therapeutic benefits of these products. Indeed, many such compositions known in the art are deficient in one or more attributes. Thus, there is an ongoing need for new oral care compositions, and methods of their use.
Fluoride is a very well known anti-cavity agent, widely used in toothpaste. However, fluoride use in toothpowder is complicated because of settling issues. In this regard, fluoride needs to be controlled to provide, for instance, a maximum of 1000 parts per million of soluble fluoride ion in some countries and a maximum of 1500 parts per million of soluble fluoride ion in other countries; and settling of a toothpowder fluoride ion source within a toothpowder container is of concern insofar as localized fluoride ion concentrations might be elevated above the acceptable level by such settling. Toothpaste is usually formulated to have a viscosity that preempts such settling in fluoride ion sources within the toothpaste, but toothpowder needs to provide a movable particulate so that the powder can be poured for use.
However, the effectiveness of toothpowder in providing a fluoride ion source is therefore adversely affected because of this challenge respective to the composition and consumer compliance.